Federal pressure builds on Google in ITA buyout

Federal pressure on Google

JEFF BLISS, BLOOMBERG NEWS

Published
5:30 am CDT, Friday, April 8, 2011

The Justice Department is pressing Google to let the government monitor its business operations to win approval of the company's $700 million purchase of travel-data provider ITA Software, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The department's demand, which Google is resisting, would authorize the government to review company behavior that could hurt competition, the person said. For example, officials want assurances Google isn't ranking its services higher than those of rivals in the listing of search results.

Close to settlement?

However, the Wall Street Journal, quoting other sources, said Google and the Justice Department are close to a settlement.

The negotiations on government oversight are the latest sign that federal antitrust authorities are concerned about the dominance of Google, owner of the world's most popular search engine.

FTC may investigate

The Federal Trade Commission is considering its own antitrust investigation of the company's search business, according to people familiar with the matter.

Rivals such as Microsoft Corp. and Kayak.com have accused Mountain View, Calif.-based Google of harming competition.

The outcome of the Justice Department's review of Google's acquisition of Cambridge, Mass.-based ITA may determine whether the agency will vie with the FTC for control of a broader probe of Google, people familiar with the matter said.

In February, two people familiar with the matter said the Justice Department was looking at whether Google's purchase of ITA would deprive travelers of equal access to flight and ticket information from all online providers, such as Kayak.com and Expedia.

Online rivals

The Justice Department and Google also have discussed how to make software from ITA available to online travel rivals through licensing agreements, the people said.

The European Commission and the state of Texas have begun probes of Google's search business, and Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine is considering a similar investigation.

The state of Wisconsin is weighing an examination of Google's bid to buy ITA, which provides data for airline ticket fares to online travel sites, according to a person familiar with the matter.